The founder of Coyote Ugly — the wildest, sexiest, rowdiest bar that calls itself the most famous in the world — says there is more to her success than boobs and booze.

"We're like family," founder Lil Lovell told Business Insider of the Coyote Ugly community, celebrating the landmark New York City location's 23rd anniversary.

She has a point. As Lovell chatted with Business Insider, regulars and former Coyotes flocked to greet her. Lovell pointed out loyalists throughout the room — customers who visited locations across the country, regulars who had visited the bar religiously for more than two decades, and Coyotes who had danced on the bar on opening night.

Here's the journey of how Lowell was able to build the "Most Famous Bar in the World," combining scantily clad girls and stiff drinks to create a space that still feels like home, 23 years later.

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Coyote Ugly

Lovell got her start as a bartender while she was a student at New York University. After graduating, she interned on Wall Street — but returned to bartending because the pay was better.

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Coyote Ugly

She developed a reputation as a New York City bartending legend while working at a dive bar called the Village Idiot, but she was determined to open her own bar by age 25.

Still, it's a bit deeper than just finding the hottest girls around. The connection between the Coyotes and customers is key.

"We pay them to make sure people are having a good time," Lovell says.

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Coyote Ugly

While customers flocked to Coyote Ugly, the first few years had their ups and downs. "I just tightened my belt," in the rough times, says Lovell.

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In 1997, Elizabeth Gilbert — who would go on to write "Eat, Pray, Love" — wrote an article titled "The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon" in GQ, based on her experiences as a bartender.

On Lovell, she wrote: "Lil could drink with her customers until they were all blind, and then she'd make men suck tequila from her boots (and sometimes, I'm sorry to report, from her socks) while maintaining complete control. "

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Touchstone Pictures

The article inspired the movie that introduced Coyote Ugly to people across America. The film, starring Piper Perabo and Maria Bello as Lil, grossed more than $100 million.

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Touchstone Pictures

Lil says she missed out on a lot of the fun, because she was pregnant with her son while the movie was filming.

However, the aftermath transformed Coyote Ugly from a much-loved local dive bar into an international icon. Out-of-towners flooded the New York City bar, which quickly became a favorite stop for tour buses.

Locations in cities like New Orleans, Tampa, and Austin following in the coming years.

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Coyote Ugly

According to Lovell, she could have opened hundreds of the bars by now — but not if she wanted to maintain the high standards that have made Coyote Ugly a unique and long-lasting institution.

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Coyote Ugly

"There's definitely local flair, [but] the girls are all trained the same," Lovell says. Some of the best Coyotes today travel from bar to bar across the US.

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Coyote Ugly

There's also a different culture in different cities.

In New York, with the high cost of living, no one would call in sick. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Lovell encountered an employee who insisted on taking a day off after a sex-induced fake-boob explosion.

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Michael Brands

In 2006, Lovell acted as a judge for CMT reality show "The Ultimate Coyote Ugly Search," seeking new Coyotes. The show lasted three seasons.

At the location's 23rd anniversary, however, it seems like nothing has changed except the soundtrack, as Coyotes dance on the bar to Sia's Chandelier and squirt water pistols filled with liquor at the crowd.

To the drunken regulars, there's no better place on earth to spend a Sunday afternoon.